Star
by mawmawile
Summary: you're a star - image is mine
1. The Prologue

"Rose, look at this," Pearl said, grasping an ornately crafted mirror in her pearly-white hands. Pearl, along with her leader Rose Quartz and her comrades the balanced Garnet and the childish Amethyst, formed the once-larger alien team, the Crystal Gems. All of them were Gems, and true to name, they were… gems.

From behind Pearl, Garnet stepped forward to speak. This other gem was tall and looked reserved, indicated by the opaque glasses she wore. While considerably stoic to strangers, she was warmer to those she cared for. "We found this mirror at the Galaxy Warp." Garnet gestured to the mirror.

"Yes! In fact, I'm pretty sure it's powered by a gem artifact." Pearl then looked down at the mirror, eager to please Rose, her lover. "Mirror, show me the Galaxy Warp." The mirror did no such thing. With more intensity, Pearl repeated herself, and the mirror repeated itself too. Meaning nothing.

"Oh, stupid thing!" Indignantly, Pearl threw down the mirror down to the floor of the temple she stood and lived in. "It must be broken. I wouldn't be _wrong_ , would I, Rose?"

"Be careful! You don't _know_ what could be in that!" Garnet reached down to pick up the mirror while reprimanding Pearl.

"Garnet…" came Rose's calm voice as Garnet stood back up. "Could you please hand me the mirror?" Garnet complied.

Rose looked at the mirror, and then flipped it to the back. "Pearl, you said that you thought this was powered by a gem artifact?"

"Well, I'm sure it is, even though it's definitely _broken_!"

"Actually, Pearl, I'm not so sure of that." Rose showed the two other the backside of the mirror. "Look, the gem… it's _cracked_."

It took a while for Pearl to understand Rose's intent. "Rose, don't tell me you're—" She trailed off there.

Rose didn't respond, and faced Garnet. "Garnet?" She said simply.

The other gem was silent for a while, thinking. But soon, she looked up to Rose Quartz and only said, "Do it."

 **AN: Image is mine. Description and title will probably change. Please review critically. :D**


	2. Gem Glow

Years later from the introduction of the mirror, Rose Quartz sighed. Well, it wasn't Rose Quartz (technically), but her son, Steven. The kid was both a human and a gem, but mostly a confusion to other gems. As all young gems are, he attempted to willingly summon his weapon, a shield. And again, as all young gems are, he failed. "Maybe I'm not a real Crystal Gem…" A dejected look came across his face. Immediately, the other gems went to comfort the boy.

Pearl, who had grown more mature in appearance and attitude, kneeled tenderly next to Steven and assured, "Don't be silly, of course you're a Crystal Gem!"

On the counter sat a short purple gem called Amethyst. "And you're fun to have around, even if your gem's useless!" Pearl grunted at Amethyst in remonstration. "I mean… yeah! We wouldn't be the Crystal Gems without you!" she hastily corrected. Garnet nodded.

Behind all of them was standing a lone figure in the gem's temple. She was entirely blue of all shades. She wore an outfit that would've been a dress if it didn't split in the middle, showing her stomach. On her outfit was a light star printed near her middle.

She looked with blue eyes to the three Crystal Gems, a look of wistfulness crossing her face, thinking the unspoken echo to her… _I'm not a Crystal Gem_.

* * *

There was something Lapis Lazuli loved about the beach. It might've been the way the sand felt under her uncovered feet. It might've been the salty smell of the entire thing. Those _were_ nice to her, but she loved the water most, appropriately. While most gems had wild weapons within their gems, Lapis only had a wet pair of wings. The plus side of those is the fact that Earth was loaded with water, a simple substance that she happened to have complete control over.

It still felt awkward, she supposed, to have to fight with water. It seemed… _wrong_ to her. In fact, any fighting seemed to repulse her, and she couldn't pin down why. She did sometimes, but something in her always just wanted to escape it.

The Crystal Gems had rushed outside of Steven's room to the nearby shore. An hour or so before, centipeedle babies had infested the kid's room, but the absence of their mother had left it to be awaited. A few minutes ago, the centipeedle mother had appeared out of seemingly nowhere and the gems had begun to attack. Lapis had intended to as well, but stalled for a while.

"You were very great today," she said to Steven, her hand on the doorknob. "Most young gems have trouble summoning their weapon once, let alone twice. Though… you didn't mean to do it both times…"

"Thanks, Lapis!" Lapis had already flown to the shore when Steven finished his sentence, and she missed him rushing outside.

Lapis landed down on the sand. Pearl noticed her and called out, "Oh, Lapis!"

"You're here!" the shorter gem called.

The Crystal Gems were sheltered behind one of the temple's hands as the mother centipeedle spat acid at them. Swiftly, Lapis headed to the gems.

It could not be said that the Crystal Gems were weak or poor fighters. They were excellent fighters, including the late Rose Quartz. The only reason the lived to fight the centipeedle was because they were excellent fighters. But if someone were to walk in this very fight, they might assume the gems weren't. After all, whips, spears, and gauntlets aren't the best weapons for fighting a 50 foot, acid-spitting centipede. A giant wave of water, on the other hand?

Speaking of water and hands, Lapis Lazuli made one to crash over the mother centipeedle. It worked. When the water hand crashed into the centipeedle, poofing it, the hand fell apart on the shore. The water flooded the beach slightly, and all was well—until Steven shouted, "No! My Cookie Cats!"

* * *

"It's broken… and all the Cookie Cats are soggy…" Steven reached for the sparking mini-fridge.

"No, Steven, don't touch that!" Pearl slapped Steven's hand away while Garnet bubbled the centipeedle's gem. "Electricity is _dangerous_!"

"I don't get it," Amethyst said. "What's wrong with soggy ice cream?"

"That's gross, Amethyst."

Lapis apologetically put a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, bud. I didn't know you were there."

"It's alright." But Steven kneeled to the ground and began to sing in melodramatic melancholy. "Cookie Cat, he's a pet for your tummy—"

"Don't worry, Steven. I got this," Garnet interrupted. She bent down and picked up the broken mini-fridge. A moment of anticipation, and—! Garnet got it working again! Oh, yeah, she has electricity powers.

"You fixed it! Can you fix my Cookie Cats, too?" Steven wondered excitedly.

Garnet smiled at the boy. "No."

 **AN: I'm sorry; I'm really bad at keeping things updated, and I hope it won't be like this in the future...**


	3. Laser Light Cannon

It loomed in the sky. When the sun sets, the sky gleams many beautiful colors for not very long before it plunges into night.

Not today, it seemed. The sun had set, and Lapis Lazuli watched it sink into the horizon. The soft array of colors had eventually assimilated into one bright orange. When she stepped outside, she saw the cause.

She fluttered down to the shore as quickly as she could. "You saw the Red Eye?"

Pearl nodded. "Yes. I think, if we do nothing, it'll crash down in about an hour. And thirty minutes. But of course, we _will_ do something."

Lapis stared at the Eye. "What do you think it's doing here?"

"We don't know," Garnet said. "But we have to destroy it fast, before it gets close to the beach." The two other gems obviously didn't want the Eye to wreck most of Beach City, but there was the other underlying factor. Red Eyes were mostly developed and perfected on Homeworld after the Great Gem War, which Lapis was elsewhere on Earth. There were preliminary designs of Eyes, but they were not developed until the War had created a need for them. They were soon added a surveillance feature.

Lapis nodded in affirmation. "Okay. So, what can stop this thing? It doesn't look like we can punch it."

Garnet would've answered, but it was then that Amethyst and Steven came gamboling in.

Pearl turned around and exasperatedly said, "Where were you guys?"

"Uh, eating fry bits." Pearl groaned.

"Whoa, it's even cooler from here." Steven marveled at the Eye. "What is it anyway?"

"It's a Red Eye." Garnet pushed up her glasses. "We don't know why it's here, but if we don't destroy it, Beach City will be crushed."

"Ah! A Red Eye?! It'll infect us all!"

"That's pink eye, Steven."

"So what do we do?"

"There's only one thing that can stop it," Garnet said. "And that's your mother's Light Cannon. We don't know where it is."

Steven thought for a moment. "Well, if anyone would probably have it, it would be my dad!"

The gems tried to discourage him from searching, as it would be fruitless. Why wouldn't he lose it if he had it?

"Nah! I know he has it!"

"Hey, Garnet!" Amethyst said. "Why don't you just throw me at it?" Garnet did, but Amethyst did nothing to the Eye.

"Uh, I think I'm going to go now."

"Okay…"

It was easy to tell that they weren't going to stop the Eye by their selves. Their only hope has the Light Cannon, which they had no way of getting quickly. They surely were doomed.

Steven had left, and the Eye kept descending, it's pace undeterred. Pearl stared at it worriedly through her telescope.

Lapis looked uneasily at her. "Hey, uh, Pearl? What's that Light Cannon?"

"What? Oh, it's Rose's. Didn't she tell you?"

She _didn't_ , but Lapis supposed it didn't matter. Why would Rose Quartz tell her about a hidden away weapon that was never relevant? Lapis wasn't even a Crystal Gem, no matter what anyone said.

* * *

The Eye was closer now. The sky shone a bright red, and Lapis could barely see any other colors. It was here that Lapis Lazuli felt utter dread. The Eye wouldn't do anything to them—unless it touched their gems—but humanity was still here. Lapis cared little for all but one human, yet she didn't want to fail the mission she had joined over thirty years ago. Not to mention Steven…

Then Lapis Lazuli heard the familiar sound of—she turned around—Greg's van? And attached to it was a white cannon shaped like a rose. It must be the Light Cannon!

"What? He really had it?" Pearl said, disbelieving.

"We're saved!" Amethyst said with relief, and Lapis felt it too.

Except… "How does it work?" Everyone froze at that comment.

"Oh! Uh, Steven! Your gem! You can use your gem to activate the Cannon!" Pearl said frantically.

Lapis shut them out and closed her eyes, the red sky shining through her eyelids. She _knew_ there was no hope with this. Her closed eyes, though, saw light, and she opened them. The Light Cannon glowed, and Steven was struggling to lift it.

Immediately, Lapis flew to the Cannon to help Steven. The other gems had the same idea.

As they lifted the Cannon, it shone brighter and shot.

Out came a brilliant beam of white light. It formed into a rose, thorns spiraling around it. The rose exploded and transformed into a beautiful woman with an arm out. The light collided with the Eye and it exploded into pieces. The scattered pieces fell everywhere. No one was hurt by it, but it knocked a display off a human's building. The night returned to the sky.

"That was her Cannon?" Lapis said, mostly to Pearl. "It was beautiful."

"I know." Pearl's eyes became wistfully nostalgic.

Lapis looked at the ocean and sighed. The Crystal Gems and she were relatively quiet. They only went for Earth's corrupted gems, and never tried to reach Homeworld. So why would they send a Red Eye? There was no other place it could have come from.

 **AN: I'll probably edit this tomorrow, but I just want to get this out as soon as possible. Also, I'll probably lay off on making subtitles so that mine can actually relate to the plot and such.**


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